Being An Unschooling Parent

A large part of being a (successful) unschooling parent is being present and mindful with your children. Being involved in their lives. Because let’s face it, if you’re going to get rid of school, it should be replaced with something. That something should be you. One of the members of an unschooling e-mail list I belong to, wrote that she is having trouble being truly present with her kids. I’d like to...

Childhood Is Life

I really like this quote: “When we adults think of children there is a simple truth that we ignore: childhood is not preparation for life; childhood is life. A child isn’t getting ready to live; a child is living. No child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparation. How much heartache we would save ourselves if we...

Unschooling Concerns

When I first began unschooling my kids (and myself), I found a lot of food for thought at the message boards at unschooling.com (the boards are no longer there). I saved several topics that were useful to me and have shared them here from time to time. I recently found one while cleaning out some old folders and thought some of you may find this helpful. It was originally posted in 2001. Be warned-it’s long....

Opportunites For Learning

**This was originally posted on 4/8/06** I re-read a bit more of Guerrilla Learning by Grace Llewellyn this morning. (You can pick up a copy in our amazon store). She writes about what she considers to be the five “keys” of Guerilla Learning. The first one is opportunity and this is what she has to say. “Read. Write. Talk. Play music. See dance and theater and paintings. Read poetry, write poetry, get poetry...

Getting Rid Of Arbitrary Limits

My parenting style went through a lot of changes from the time we adopted our children to when we started unschooling. A lot of it stemmed from the fact that my children (I’m speaking about my two daughters only, not my son) have changed and my parenting needed to reflect those changes. During the first year of unschooling (in 2004) we let go of a lot of “rules” and “limits” and replaced it with...

Raise Children With A Wild Streak

I enjoyed the whole article except this part; “Surround them with books, not video games”. I think it should be “Surround them with books AND video games”. Raise children with a wild streak: Many `ideal’ students lack inventive, restless and self-reliant spirit by Mark Pruett A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics stresses the importance of childhood playtime. It reinforces my...

Deschooling For Parents

If you’ve just removed your child from school or are re-thinking your school-at-home setting, take some time to relax and look at your children, and education, through new eyes. Deschooling isn’t just for the kids….it’s even more important for the parents. I’ve had some posts saved from various boards/e-mail groups over the last couple of years topic of deschooling for parents. I’ll...

Florida Museum Of Natural History

This is one of those “day in the life of an unschooler” posts. People that don’t know us well, sometimes ask what we do during the day without school. On this particular day, we visited the Florida Museum of Natural History. These pictures were from a day spent there last year. I realized I never got around to sharing them. Jacqueline likes to take notes when we visit places like this. These next few...

John Holt Quotes

John Holt was at one time, a fifth grade teacher who went on to write How Children Fail and How Children Learn. Click the links or the books below to purchase some of John Holts best writing. He eventually quit teaching and became a speaker and supporter of education reform and went on to write several more books. Deciding that schools could not be reformed, he focused his energies on alternatives to conventional schooling....

Unschooling is…

“Unschooling is about embracing the person for exactly who they ARE, not who we want them to be. Unschooling is about CELEBRATING each unique individual and focusing on their beauty and strength. Focusing on perceived weaknesses does not help it become a strength. And that which we view as a “weakness” may very well NOT be such. Perception is reality for us. Change your perception of your children. Change...